HIV and Older Adults- Part 1

In part 1 of this 2 part series we are sharing an article that one of our case managers wrote and had printed in Kerby Centre Newsletter.

Did you know that seniors are at risk for HIV/AIDS? According to the most recent statistics released by the Public Health Agency of Canada, people over the age of 50 accounted for 15% of all new positive HIV test results in 2009 . This number has been steadily increasing over the last 10 years in countries such as Canada, the United States, and Great Britain. While it may be difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of this increase in HIV infection rates among older adults, there is growing evidence to support that there are unique biological, behavioural, and social factors associated with new infection rates in older adult and senior populations.
As older adults continue to live longer and experience better health into their senior years, they continue to enjoy healthy sex lives. While it may be no surprise that older adults continue to be sexually active, very little research has been done in the field of older adult sexuality. What the current research tells us is that sexual behaviour and sexual desire in older adults is largely related to overall health . Better health, the introduction of erectile dysfunction drugs, and changes in social networking through technology have all provided many older adults with the opportunity to form new romantic relationships later in life.
While healthy sexuality is possible at any age, the leading large-scale study on older adult sexuality has shown that half of the older adults involved in the research reported experiencing one or more sexual problems . While it may be normal to experience changes to our sexual functioning as we get older, some of these changes can put seniors at an increased risk for acquiring HIV or other Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). Men may experience changes in their erectile functioning, while women may experience changes to their bodies after menopause which put them at a greater biological risk for acquiring HIV and other STIs.
Erectile dysfunction drugs have been commercially available in Canada for over 10 years, which has proved to be an effective treatment for many men experiencing erectile dysfunction. Recent studies have shown a troubling connection between the use of these medications and an increase in risky sexual behaviours for older adult men. Studies have shown that a man taking erectile dysfunction drugs may be twice as likely to develop an STI as his non-medicated peer due to an increase in risky sexual behaviours associated with his improved erectile functioning .
Increased sexual behaviours for older adults isn’t something to be worried about, risky sexual behaviour is. Condoms are the best protection against HIV and other STIs and need to be used consistently and correctly to prevent infection. Research suggests that men over the age of 50 are significantly less likely to use a condom than younger men . Women who are past child-bearing years also report that they are much less likely to insist in condom use than younger women. Are older adults choosing to engage in riskier behaviours than younger individuals, or is low condom use a symptom or a larger issue of how the public and health care providers educate older adults about risk?